Easter Sunday

This turned out to be a very sweet Easter....it was fun to be there with Rick and his family and my brother Todd, his wife Lea, and their three youngest children, Ryan, Kaylee and Tillie. We attend Rick's ward and Katie gave a great talk about the Atonement--perfect for Easter and for a missionary.  That is the message that she will take to Portugal--that He is risen and that through Him and because of Him we can all live with God again.

Then after Church a woman approached me who is from the panhandle of Texas.  She knew my parents well as did her parents.  They lived in our Lubbock Texas stake.  She is 4 years older than I was and so I didn't know her.  After I left for BYU her family moved back to Amarillo and her mother, age 92, still lives in nearby Pampa.  Kim said that she always has to report any Giberson sightings to her mom who always say, "Once you live in west Texas you are family."  It is always fun to talk to people who knew my mom (and my dad of course.)  But on Easter I think of Mom a lot and it was nice to speak about her with Kim.

After that conversation, I rounded the corner in the Church and heard another young woman call my name.  As I turned toward her she reached out and gave me a big hug.  It was one of the young woman who had lived in our home many years ago when we served as foster parents for LDS Family Services.  That was another Easter miracle.  She looked so amazing. She is married in the temple and has five children.  She was teaching Primary which is why I had not seen her earlier in the Church block.  My brother Rick has been her home teacher for many years but they had never realized the connection.  Of course, she would not likely have remembered or even heard my maiden name to even make that connection.  She promptly went and found Rick and chewed him out for not telling her that I was his sister.

After Church we had Rogo, a Giberson traditional meal of ground beef, rice, a variety of vegetables and Fritos.  The kids then had an Easter egg hunt and then the Rick and Linda Giberson Traditional Egg Roll. 

Tana and Jena after Church

Tillie waiting for the Easter Egg Hunt

Back:  Tana, Katie, Duncan, Ryan and Kaylee
Jena, Thad with Tillie in front

Jena counting her eggs

One last Easter basket before leaving on a mission

The eggs for the Egg Roll

Head to head:  You roll eggs at each other until they hit and then
the egg that is cracked is out.  Single elimination.

Here is the brackets for the egg roll.  Katie did a great job as an announcer for the event.
We were laughing more at her than the egg rolling.
Jena came in second place as Aunt Lea's egg was the only one with no cracks.

A bunch of Giberson cousins trying to get organized for a picture.
We did get some group shots on Linda's camera but this was the only partial group one
on my camera.  This is on their front porch.

After the Egg Roll and more talking, we headed out to follow Todd and Lea down to Austin.  There was lots of road construction and it took us about 5 1/2 hours instead of 4 to get to their home in south Austin.  Late night for the kids who had school in the morning but Jena and I enjoyed sleeping in.

I had Jena take this picture out the window of the car while we were driving.  I wanted to get a shot of the water tower but no luck.  I loved being back in the land of the BIG SKY.  Don't get me wrong.  I love the mountains in Utah.  Sunrises and sunsets, the changing of the seasons, the overall beauty of them is awesome.  But I also love sky.  In most of Texas it feels like a 360 degree bowl of sky has been put over your head.  Everywhere we looked this trip there were blue skies and white fluffy skies (except when it rained.) I love that feeling.

So we ended Sunday at my brother, Todd's home in Buda, Texas.